The first panel, featuring James Panero, Bruce Cole, Karen Wilkin & Eric Gibson

panero: I’d like to start with a Seussian hypothetical: “If I ran the museum.” In my talk, I ended with one suggestion—expansion of open storage. What would you do, Bruce, to address some of your concerns, if you ran the Indianapolis Museum, for example?

cole: I’d get rid of the eighteen-hole golf course.

panero: I thought you’d say that.

cole: Also, I very much like the idea of these focused exhibitions. I think this is a good way, when museums are strapped for money, to concentrate on one work and some peripheral material. Yesterday I saw this little exhibition of Alexander Hamilton, with about twenty objects, at the New York Public Library. And I’ve got to say, I learned a tremendous amount about Hamilton in a very short period because it was done well.

panero: A museum today justifies its activities to its board and to the public through turnstile metrics. What if moma’s entry rate were to go down 20 percent, 30 percent? That would clear out the museum, but it could be perceived, by the public, as a failure.

wilkin: Interesting thought. Of course, circulation is so awful, I don’t know if that would make any difference. You see all the visitors getting off the escalator and going into the wrong end of the permanent collection galleries, because they can’t figure out